Languages

I am just in awe of anyone who can speak more than one language. I don't understand how it works and I think it's just the most amazing thing.

I have a pretty good grasp of American English. And I'm fairly fluent in Canadian English. The only other country I have spent any substantial amount of time in is New Zealand where I am pretty much at a loss a lot of the time. (Sure I know now that I don't need to duck and cover when I see a sign that says WARNING!!! JUDDER BARS!!! But, who, in the U.S. would know immediately that they mean speed bumps?!)

My friend, Kenny, who sits next to me is Chinese. He is very fluent in English and has a pretty good grasp of idioms and is good about asking when he doesn't understand. (There was the time last year when he came to me in a really whispered voice and asked me to explain what it meant to come out of the closet... Turned out to be a little trickier than you would think, that explaination...) He has this cool little PDA thing that is is Chinese to English and English to Chinese dictionary.

I told him yesterday that I was so intimidated and impressed that he could speak more than one language. He was really shocked. He's so young. He thinks he's not impressive because his English isn't perfect. He was embarrassed, too, so I dropped it.

But, I do wonder. If you speak more than one language how do you know what language to think in? What language do you dream in? I don't know how you would keep all the words straight but I do think it would be wonderful to have so many more to chose from. Imagine being able to swear in more than one language - what if you know several languages and you stub your toe - which version of fuck! comes out first?

I was required to pass two years of Latin in high school and I'm proud to say that it only took me three years to do it. I also had French in high school and college. I got so I could read it fairly easily, but my feeble attempts at speech were painful for even me to hear. To paraphrase - Me never going to talk pretty one day. But me really impressed with everyone who do.

Languages

I am just in awe of anyone who can speak more than one language. I don't understand how it works and I think it's just the most amazing thing.

I have a pretty good grasp of American English. And I'm fairly fluent in Canadian English. The only other country I have spent any substantial amount of time in is New Zealand where I am pretty much at a loss a lot of the time. (Sure I know now that I don't need to duck and cover when I see a sign that says WARNING!!! JUDDER BARS!!! But, who, in the U.S. would know immediately that they mean speed bumps?!)

My friend, Kenny, who sits next to me is Chinese. He is very fluent in English and has a pretty good grasp of idioms and is good about asking when he doesn't understand. (There was the time last year when he came to me in a really whispered voice and asked me to explain what it meant to come out of the closet... Turned out to be a little trickier than you would think, that explaination...) He has this cool little PDA thing that is is Chinese to English and English to Chinese dictionary.

I told him yesterday that I was so intimidated and impressed that he could speak more than one language. He was really shocked. He's so young. He thinks he's not impressive because his English isn't perfect. He was embarrassed, too, so I dropped it.

But, I do wonder. If you speak more than one language how do you know what language to think in? What language do you dream in? I don't know how you would keep all the words straight but I do think it would be wonderful to have so many more to chose from. Imagine being able to swear in more than one language - what if you know several languages and you stub your toe - which version of fuck! comes out first?

I was required to pass two years of Latin in high school and I'm proud to say that it only took me three years to do it. I also had French in high school and college. I got so I could read it fairly easily, but my feeble attempts at speech were painful for even me to hear. To paraphrase - Me never going to talk pretty one day. But me really impressed with everyone who do.

My Cube!

Here she is, in all her glory! dlanor seemed a bit worried yesterday that I might have over-tidied. See, it's still a mess of wires and lamps and geegaws and things so he was worrying needlessly.

Our offices are in what used to be an Italian restaurant. You can see the bar just beyond my cubicle wall. The glasses are still hanging there and there is still some booze there. No ice, though, and the olives are all gone along with that really cute bartender.

My Cube!

Here she is, in all her glory! dlanor seemed a bit worried yesterday that I might have over-tidied. See, it's still a mess of wires and lamps and geegaws and things so he was worrying needlessly.

Our offices are in what used to be an Italian restaurant. You can see the bar just beyond my cubicle wall. The glasses are still hanging there and there is still some booze there. No ice, though, and the olives are all gone along with that really cute bartender.

More Tales from the Movie Set

Mom is on a roll! Here's another installment in the Movie Journal... (Note: BG is short for Bishop Gadsden which is where she lives and Judy Spence works there and coordinated the movie thing. And I don't have the heart to tell her that the director is Nick, not John...)


There were probably 10 of us from BG. The bus took us to a tent which was for coffee and breakfast. Turned out there were lots of trailers nearby. The trailers were wardrobe, lighting stuff and all sorts of things including one with toilets in it. The toilet trailer was awful. It was clean, but impossible for me to get into and out of. Richard (Futch) stood at the bottom of a metal ladder of stairs. Mind you we most of us didn't have climbing shoes on. I had Sunday shoes. He held my purse which was loaded with make up and stuff and I put my hands on a step, stepped up, then repeated that action. There were maybe 8 steps. The top two had a rail to hold on to so that worked. It was almost like climbing up on ones hands and knees. Coming down was even worse. Of course coming down we had relieved ourselves so it wasn't exactly necessary to hurry or anything. Well, for this inconvenience we were usually standing in line.

The place that we walked to from there (about a short block) was a building #31 by name. It looked as if it must have been an office building. See, we were on the OLD Navy Base whatever that is. Well, it had no water and no electricity. It had toilets that people were using (not BG) that couldn't be flushed, so that is why we had to use the others/

In the first tent there was food. It was a pretty chilly day, but the main problem was the food and the plates got cold fast. So I ate two cinnamon rolls and a banana and had coffee.

Then we signed up so that we could get our pay. Without waiting too long, we walked to Building #31, sat down in a front room until they wanted us. They took us in a few at a time. Richard had said we would have our make up done and our hair done however they wanted it. So having rushed around a lot that morning I had NO make up on not even lipstick. They took me in and put me in a wheel chair (part of the background). They had drafted Judy Spence as a nurse, so she was my pusher. Then they told us to wait in a hallway with glass windows to look through to the nurses desk and the waiting area where people sit and wait. Eventually they came by and put lipstick on Judy. No one touched me - hair or otherwise.

More later................

--------------------- This is later... just thot I'd add it here -------------

Ok, so we went through this pushing down the hall routine about 6 or 7 times. There were other people doing action things. There were people we passed. There was a gurney with a patient on it (James Garner), and there were others. We all had to start on cue. Not too fast, not too slow, etc. Finally we had about two "takes" and that did it. During all this there were four people sitting at a table with food in front of them. They had something to drink in their cups, but they were not allowed to eat the food.

Then later after one other wheel chair scene, they had me join a threesome that were working out with barbells. There was an aid teaching two to exercise with barbells. They handed some to me (still in the wheel chair) and I joined the work out. The director decided we should not all be working in unison so the director (John Cassavettes) decided that I should not be in rhythm with the others. I did either a very good job or a very lousy job. Afterwards he came over to me and said that was the funniest thing he ever saw. We didn't try to do it again, so he was either serious or facetious.

During this whole thing there were people all over the place and the only time things were calm was when they said "action". Then we were doing the scene. Otherwise there were electricians, cameramen, handymen, etc. all over the place.

Then we went back into the little waiting room and sat waiting to be led back to the tent for food. Finally we got our time sheet receipts and loaded up to go home. I was exhausted. I had three naps the next day. We were to be called back, but I do not think there was a single person that would have come. The confusion was fierce. The talk, talk, was incessant. Toward the end John C. told the sub-director to get everyone to shut up. I would have applauded if I could have done it quietly. This ends my movie career. What a way to earn a living!!!!!!!!!

More Tales from the Movie Set

Mom is on a roll! Here's another installment in the Movie Journal... (Note: BG is short for Bishop Gadsden which is where she lives and Judy Spence works there and coordinated the movie thing. And I don't have the heart to tell her that the director is Nick, not John...)


There were probably 10 of us from BG. The bus took us to a tent which was for coffee and breakfast. Turned out there were lots of trailers nearby. The trailers were wardrobe, lighting stuff and all sorts of things including one with toilets in it. The toilet trailer was awful. It was clean, but impossible for me to get into and out of. Richard (Futch) stood at the bottom of a metal ladder of stairs. Mind you we most of us didn't have climbing shoes on. I had Sunday shoes. He held my purse which was loaded with make up and stuff and I put my hands on a step, stepped up, then repeated that action. There were maybe 8 steps. The top two had a rail to hold on to so that worked. It was almost like climbing up on ones hands and knees. Coming down was even worse. Of course coming down we had relieved ourselves so it wasn't exactly necessary to hurry or anything. Well, for this inconvenience we were usually standing in line.

The place that we walked to from there (about a short block) was a building #31 by name. It looked as if it must have been an office building. See, we were on the OLD Navy Base whatever that is. Well, it had no water and no electricity. It had toilets that people were using (not BG) that couldn't be flushed, so that is why we had to use the others/

In the first tent there was food. It was a pretty chilly day, but the main problem was the food and the plates got cold fast. So I ate two cinnamon rolls and a banana and had coffee.

Then we signed up so that we could get our pay. Without waiting too long, we walked to Building #31, sat down in a front room until they wanted us. They took us in a few at a time. Richard had said we would have our make up done and our hair done however they wanted it. So having rushed around a lot that morning I had NO make up on not even lipstick. They took me in and put me in a wheel chair (part of the background). They had drafted Judy Spence as a nurse, so she was my pusher. Then they told us to wait in a hallway with glass windows to look through to the nurses desk and the waiting area where people sit and wait. Eventually they came by and put lipstick on Judy. No one touched me - hair or otherwise.

More later................

--------------------- This is later... just thot I'd add it here -------------

Ok, so we went through this pushing down the hall routine about 6 or 7 times. There were other people doing action things. There were people we passed. There was a gurney with a patient on it (James Garner), and there were others. We all had to start on cue. Not too fast, not too slow, etc. Finally we had about two "takes" and that did it. During all this there were four people sitting at a table with food in front of them. They had something to drink in their cups, but they were not allowed to eat the food.

Then later after one other wheel chair scene, they had me join a threesome that were working out with barbells. There was an aid teaching two to exercise with barbells. They handed some to me (still in the wheel chair) and I joined the work out. The director decided we should not all be working in unison so the director (John Cassavettes) decided that I should not be in rhythm with the others. I did either a very good job or a very lousy job. Afterwards he came over to me and said that was the funniest thing he ever saw. We didn't try to do it again, so he was either serious or facetious.

During this whole thing there were people all over the place and the only time things were calm was when they said "action". Then we were doing the scene. Otherwise there were electricians, cameramen, handymen, etc. all over the place.

Then we went back into the little waiting room and sat waiting to be led back to the tent for food. Finally we got our time sheet receipts and loaded up to go home. I was exhausted. I had three naps the next day. We were to be called back, but I do not think there was a single person that would have come. The confusion was fierce. The talk, talk, was incessant. Toward the end John C. told the sub-director to get everyone to shut up. I would have applauded if I could have done it quietly. This ends my movie career. What a way to earn a living!!!!!!!!!

Trent Lott

December 20, 2002, 8:05 a.m.
Trent Lott steps down as GOP leader

Sen. Trent Lott will step down as Senate Republican leader, a senior GOP aide close to the Mississippian said today, two weeks after Lott's endorsement of Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid touched off a national uproar.

Does this mean that our days of having to listen to man-on-the-street interviews from Pascagoula are over? Because I really am ready. I think I've heard a pithy sound bite from every single person who lives there.

Trent Lott

December 20, 2002, 8:05 a.m.
Trent Lott steps down as GOP leader

Sen. Trent Lott will step down as Senate Republican leader, a senior GOP aide close to the Mississippian said today, two weeks after Lott's endorsement of Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential bid touched off a national uproar.

Does this mean that our days of having to listen to man-on-the-street interviews from Pascagoula are over? Because I really am ready. I think I've heard a pithy sound bite from every single person who lives there.